This archive report was first published on 31 July 2019.
On July 31, 2019, a team of researchers at Google revealed that they had discovered five vulnerabilities in Apple's iMessage software, which could leave devices open to attack.
The flaws were discovered by the Google Zero team, a group established in July 2014 to uncover previously undocumented cyber-vulnerabilities.
According to the researchers, one of the vulnerabilities was so severe that the only way to rescue a targeted iPhone would be to delete all the data off it.
Another example could be used to copy files off a device without requiring the owner to do anything to aid the hack.
Apple released fixes for the flaws last week, but the researchers said they had also flagged a sixth problem to Apple, which had not been rectified in the update to its mobile operating system.
Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber-security expert at the University of Surrey, commented that the reputation of the Google Zero team is such that it is worth taking notice of.
Apple has urged users to install the new version of iOS, which addresses Google's other discoveries as well as a further range of glitches and threats.
News site ZDnet noted that the level of detail shared by Google about the other bugs could be enough to let bad actors craft exploits to take advantage of them.
